An Easter Weekend to remember

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Published:17:16Wednesday 30 April 2014

Bridlington was heaving recently as the town recorded its busiest Easter in years.

Sunny weather drew in crowds from across the region and the seafront was awash with holidaymakers.

Figures from Bridlington’s park and ride show that from Friday to Monday around 2,500 vehicles, carrying around 7,500 people used the facility, and that on Saturday it almost reached its 1,000 car capacity when 993 vehicles parked up.

According to Met Office figures, temperatures peaked at 13.2 degrees on Monday, though Saturday and Sunday were not far behind at 10.8 and 11.8 degrees.

Bob Hilary, President of the Bridlington Tourism Association, said: “It was very, very busy, It was the best Easter in a few years I would think, you just couldn’t move or park there were that many people.

“I don’t think anybody had a bad weekend, walking around the guest houses they all had no vacancies signs up so they must have been doing well. Once again it was the weather that made all the difference, last year it was like Siberia but this year it was fantastic. I’m very positive for the rest of the season, but like all resorts we are very dependent on the weather.”

The seafront was not Bridlington’s only attraction to prove popular, Sewerby Hall and Gardens enjoyed one of its best Easter weekends in recent years.

An Easter egg hunt around the grounds on Saturday provided a great family friendly activity, while on Sunday and Monday crowds flocked to watch a team of four knights from Nottingham take part in the annual jousting event.

Lynn Church, customer support officer at the Hall and Gardens said: “It has been very busy this weekend. The Easter Egg Trail on Saturday was very popular and the jousting was well attended. It is a tradition at Sewerby Hall and it is a quite exciting thing to watch.

“The weather was good so we were popular. We are very family oriented and it is a family occasion. The Hall is closed for the refurbishment work so it is nice to see it hasn’t stopped people coming along.”

With more visitors coming into the town, the police took extra precautions to make sure there was no major trouble, bringing in more officers.

From a policing point of view it was a successful weekend with just nine arrests from Friday to Monday and not all of those were related to the night time economy.

Inspector Grant Taylor of Bridlington Police said: “It is a good result, I’m pleased that we had a massive influx of visitors and apart from one or two minor incidents the town was a peaceful place to be.

“What offences did take place were really minor public order offences and the majority involved alcohol.”

Bridlington coastguard also had a quieter weekend then may have been expected and believe warnings about how to stay safe near the water appear to be getting through.

The service was called to an incident on Saturday along with the search and rescue helicopter and inshore lifeboat, when a man got into trouble at the end of the Yorkshire Water Outfall Pipe.

The man was airlifted to safety and taken by ambulance to Scarborough Hospital. A spokesperson for Bridlington Coast Guard said: “As far as Bank Holidays go, I would say it wasn’t the busiest for us, even though there was plenty of people about.”